Here's
the The Lowdownfrom
DN Journal,
updated dailyto fill you in on the
latest buzz going around the domain name
industry.

The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.

New
Book Reveals .CLUB Superhero Jeff Sass Owes His
Marketing Powers to The Toxic Avenger!

In
a sea of new gTLDs.CLUB
has managed to stand out with
a non-stop global promotional
campaign orchestrated by a Super
Chief Marketing Officer who,
disguised as Jeff
Sass, mild-mannered film
aficionado from a legendary
independent studio, fights a never-ending
battle for mainstream
recognition of his favorite domain
extension. Yes, it's Sassman,
strange visitor from another
industry, who came to the domain
world with powers and abilities far
beyond those of mortal men -
including the ability to write books
in a single bound!

Berlin.
As I mentioned Sass has gone just
about everywhere on the globe that
has an airport to promote .CLUB (no,
in case you are wondering, he cannot
fly without an airplane).

Jeff
Sass
Chief Marketing Officer
.CLUB

What
Sass can do is spin some fascinating
yarns about his days in
the late 80s and early 90s
with legendary New York City
based cult movie production
houseTroma
Entertainment
where he spent more than seven
and half years in film
production, marketing,
acting and
assorted mayhem. The
Toxic Avenger
reference is to Troma's most
successful film. It spawned
three sequels (with Jeff
appearing in Part 2) as well
as a network cartoon series!
As a result, the deformed
hero, "Toxie",
also became Troma's mascot.
That film, like nearly all
in the Troma stable, is gory,
campy and crazy - all of
which accounts for the cult
following Troma still enjoys
today. In them you can see
the DNA of later acclaimed
films that combined humor
and horror like An
American Werewolf in London,
Shaun of the Dead and
many others.

Jeff
learned many valuable and
timeless business and
marketing lessons from his
experiences at Troma and he
shares the best of those
in his new book - in each
case noting how the specific lesson
learned can be applied in any
business or marketing
campaign today.

One
of my favorites
stories in the book underlined
the value of being persistent
and taking the
initiative. Jeff
recounts how he
found two scruffy
young guys from
Maryland sleeping on
the stoop at Troma
when he came in to
work one day. They
had been there all
night after taking
the bus to New York
City. The duo loved
Troma movies so they
shot a production of
their
own in the
unmistakable Troma
style on video
(rather than
expensive film they
couldn't afford).
They then went to New
York with no appointment,
hoping to show their
video to Troma
co-founder Lloyd
Kaufman (who
wrote the foreward to
Jeff's book).

Kaufman
ignored them all day
but in late
afternoon finally
relented and agreed
to look
at their tape. He was
so impressed Troma
licensed it andRedneck
Zombies
became the first
movie shot on video
to get widespread
distribution by a
film studio (and one
of the guys was
hired to work for
Troma)!

Troma
was a most
unusual place to
work in those
days and the
anecdotes alone are
more than worth the
price of the book -
but when you add in
the value of the
business and
marketing tips (and
some real insight
into what makes Sass
and the .CLUB
machine tick) it is
a no brainer
- get
a copy today.
But I warn
you - once you read
it, curiosity will
likely get the best
of you and
your Netflix
queue - like mine -
will rapidly be
filled with Troma
titles. I've already
gotten The
Toxic Avenger
and Sgt.
Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
(which Jeff also appears
in) with a half
dozen more in the
line up - and that's
just scratching the
surface. I know I
may not find a
Citizen Kane
in here, but a
journalist has got to do
his research you
know! With all of
this source material
to draw on and the
positive reviews he
has been getting,
Sass, like Toxie,
may end up seeing
his initial work
giving birth to a
string sequels too!

Yancy
Naughton's HasTraffic Family of Brands Expands
Staff with Addition of Former Igloo.com Broker
David Seelos

HasTraffic/WantsTraffic
Founder Yancy Naughton has
added a key new member to his
company's team. David Seelos,
who has spent the past five years
with popular domain brokerage firm Igloo.com,
came on board this month, just in
time to join Naughton in
representing the firm at the Domaining
Europe conference that concluded
in Berlin, Germany May 16.

Naughton
told us, "In the midst of a
rapidly shifting and changing domain
and traffic industry, we were proud
to introduce David as the latest
team member at the HasTraffic family
of brands. The brands represented
include HasTraffic
(publishing) WantsTraffic
(Multi Channel Advertising) HasSocial
(Social Media Influencer Network)
Namerific (Domain Name/ Brand
Marketplace) and The CPC Email
Exchange (Email Click Exchange)."

Naughton
added, “David was always one of my
favorite people in the domaining
industry. I am certain that in
addition to his domain brokerage
experience, his abundant charm,
talent and energy will pay dividends
in his new position.

Yancy
Naughton
HasTraffic Founder

When
I heard he was interested in
broadening his skill set and moving
to Los Angeles, we did not
hesitate to tender him an offer. So
far I can confidently say that he is
a quick learner, and is
transitioning quickly towards a more
diverse role in traffic management
operations and advertiser
development."

Yancy
Naughton with new team member David
Seelos
at the 2017 Domaining Europe
conference in Berlin.

Seelos
said, "I look forward to
continuing the relationships I've
made in this industry, while trying
something completely new as I
jump into a role centered around
traffic monetization. I recently
moved back to Los Angeles, and it's
great being at Yancy's LA office
with his awesome team."

The
4th annual edition of the
DNSeattle
domain industry meetup will be held
this evening from from 6-9pm
(Pacific time) at a popular Amazon
meeting space known as "The
Living Room". Post-event
socializing is expected to continue
until around midnight at a local
bar.

There
has been one major show development
since I posted a DNSeattle
preview last month. Show
Founder Michael Cyger (DomainSherpa.com)
has landed one of the industry's top
domain brokers, Andrew Rosener
from MediaOptions.com,
as the educational speaker for
DNSeattle 2017. Michael will
interview Andrew in a discussion
titled "Selling Ice to
Eskimos."

Cyger
said, "I will be asking Andrew
about buying and selling premium
domain names, where he’s seen
success in the past, where it’s
going to be in the future, and how
all TLDs can benefit from the
trends. Real tactics will be
discussed before opening up to an
attendee Q&A session."

Cyger also noted, "Back by
popular demand from the 2016
DNSeattle, DJ Statton - the
one and only track-throwing,
mix-spinning, attorney-turned-DJ
from Rightside
-
will be entertaining us and creating
an unbelievable mood that will make
you want to socialize, have a great
time, and maybe even dance
(doubtful, but maybe)!"

DNSeattle
sponsors include Amazon, GoDaddy,
Donuts, Rightside, Verisign,
Payoneer Escrow and Above.com.
Give-away prizes will be provided by
EstiBot.com, domainIQ.com
and DNAcademy.com. Cyger
expects over 120 attendees for the
event that will
benefit and once again all proceeds
will benefit the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
in Seattle.

MediaOptions.com
Founder Andrew Rosener will be
the featured educational speaker at DNSeattle
tonight.

In
other conference news,
the Domaining
Europe online domain
auction
has less than 24
hours to go. The
sale will be ending at
1pm (US Eastern
time) Friday afternoon
(May 26). Undeveloped.com
is running the auction
in conjunction with
the conference that
ran last
week in Berlin.
There was also a live
charity auction at
the conference itself
with a different set
of domains that were
donated by

I
also want to
congratulate NamesCon
on the successful
staging of their first
conference in India.
The event in Mumbai
was held last Friday (May
19) at the city's
Grand Hyatt with a
good turnout on hand
to see an outstanding
roster of speakers
from both the global
and Indian domain
industries.

Regrettably,
I was unable to attend
the event. After
Domaining Europe ended
in Berlin May 16 I
already had a
previously planned
trip through southern
Germany and Austria
that my wife and I were on
through this past
weekend. However,
several others went
directly from Berlin
to Mumbai including Braden
Pollock
who served as a
moderator for both
shows. If you follow
NamesCon on Facebook
you can see the many
photos and highlights
they posted from the
inaugural event in one
of the world's most rapidly
growing domain
markets, including
this one that captured
Braden's fireside
chat with one of
India's most widely
known domain
investor/developers, Deepak
Daftari (at
right).

Latest
Ride on the Domain Train Takes us From Florida
to Berlin to Munich to Füssen to Salzburg and
Back

I'm
finally back in USA after
a thoroughly enjoyable 10-day trip
through Germany and Austria
that combined both business and
pleasure. My primary purpose for
crossing the pond was to speak at
and cover the 9th annual Domaining
Europe conference that ran
in Berlin May 14-16, 2017. In
case you missed our coverage in this
column, you will find Opening Day
(devoted to social networking)
photos and highlights from Sunday
(May 14) here,
our wrap up of the first full
business day Monday (May 15) here
and closing day photos and
highlights from another very busy
business day Tuesday (May 16) here.

Once
again conference Founder Dietmar
Stefitz (at left with me in the
photo above, right after the final
session) put on an outstanding event
that attracted people from around
the world. If you ever have the
opportunity I can highly recommend
the value of attending Domaining
Europe so keep an eye out for
details on the 10th anniversary
event that will be held in the
spring of 2018 with dates and
location to be announced (based upon
feedback he solicited at the show,
Dietmar may be leaning toward Rome,
Italy as the site for that
landmark show).

After
the conference, on Wednesday morning
(May 17), my wife Diana and I
took Germany's sleek ICE
(Inter-City Express) train
from Berlin to Munich as we
have long wanted to visit the
Bavarian capital and some domain
industry friends that live there.
With the train hitting speeds of up
to 186 mph it made short work
of the beautiful German countryside,
delivering us to Munich right on
time Wednesday afternoon.

The
ICE train pulling into Berlin
Station May 17 to pick up
passengers for the trip to Munich.
My wife Diana is standing at
lower left, waiting to board.

Our
hotel was just 3 blocks from the
train station so after checking in
and freshening up we had plenty of
time to head out for a visit to Team
Internet/ParkingCrew
Founder & CEO Nico Zeifang
at his company's rooftop office
suite on the edge of Munich's
historic Old Town district.

Below:
ParkingCrew team members on
the job at the company's offices May
17.

Above:
Nico gave us the grand tour
of the spacious Team Internet/ParkingCrew
offices that include a kitchen
(above), game room and other
amenities that have made it easy for
the popular domain monetization
company to attract and retain
employees. Within the next week or
so, I'll be doing a separate post
updating you on the latest
happenings at Team Internet/ParkingCrew.

The
next day, Friday May 18, another
well-known domain industry friend, Jochen
Kieler, was kind enough
to pick Diana and I up and give us a
guided tour of his beautiful
hometown. Once again the weather was
beautiful and the sites around Munich
were stunning to see.

Above:
Ron with Jochen Kieler (left)
at The
Odeonsplatz
during a tour of MunichThursday
(May 18).

Below:
We were delighted to have Jochen's
lovely wife Viktoria meet up
with us at the English Gardens,
from where we went on to their
favorite biergarten - Hofbräukeller
- for dinner (and some very large
beers).

I
expect to have some exciting news
from Jochen to share with you in the
near future. He has already made his
mark in the domain industry but with
Viktoria this brilliant couple is
going to be making ever bigger
waves for decades to come.

After
our visit to Munich, Diana and I got
on another train Friday morning (May
19) and headed south to Füssen,
Germany (just north of the
Austrian border) to see the famous Neuschwanstein
Castle which, as all Disney
fans know, is the real castle that Walt
Disney based his Cinderella's
Castle on.

Above:
A shot of Neuschwanstein Castle
that I took May 19. I had to
overcome - I won't say a fear, but
certainly a discomfort with
heights - to get this picture that
was taken from the small bridge
(below) that is wedged in a gorge
high above a beautiful waterfall.
You first hike to the bridge, then
edge out onto it to get a clear
photo of the castle below. The shot
of the bridge was taken later from
the castle's courtyard after we
hiked down to it. With dozens of
people on the bridge and the wooden
floor boards bouncing up and down
under their weight I was convinced
it would be a good idea to get
the photo and get off as quickly
as possible!

We
decided to spend the weekend - our
last two days on this European trip
- in a city we've long wanted to
see, beautiful Salzburg, Austria.
So it was back on one of Germany's
great trains (they put airplanes to
shame!) Saturday morning for the
ride to Mozart's home town.

Above:
Diana and I at our Salzburg
hotel Saturday (May 20) - the
incredibly scenic Schloss
Leopoldskron ("schloss"
means castle or manor house in
German). There are two buildings on
the property including the stunning
manor house that was built in 1736.
Some scenes from the classic 1965
film - The Sound of Music
- were filmed here.

Below:
Sunday morning breakfast (May 21) in
the Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg.
This wasn't the first visit there by
domain people. Several years ago,
during a Domainfest Munich
conference, attendees were brought
here for a show party.
Unfortunately, we missed that but
were thrilled to have this
opportunity to be there.

Above:
At the Mozart statue in Salzburg,
Austria while walking through
the beautiful Old Town Sunday, May
21.

Visitng
Salzburg was a great way to cap our
visit to Germany and Austria. We
took the train back to Munich and
flew home Monday and I got back in
the office yesterday morning with
10 days worth of work piled up but
the trip was well worth dealing with
the backlog. Now it is back to
business and what I hope will be
a very fruitful summer for us
all!

Closing
Day Photos and Highlights from the Domaining
Europe Conference in Berlin Tuesday

The
2017 Domaining
Europe conference
ended with another full day of
business at the Steigenberger
HotelAm Kanzleramt in
Berlin, Germany Tuesday, May 16 (you will
find Sunday's opening day highlights
here
and highlights from the first day of
business Monday here).

The
busy closing day schedule Tuesday
began at 9am with a panel discussion
covering the latest developments in
Internet Governance featuring (left
to right in the photo below) Jorg
Schweiger, Michele Neylon,
Erika Mann, moderator Thomas
Rickert and Professor Wolfgang
Kleinwachter.

Below:
At 10:30 Guillaume Pahud took
the stage to give attendees the
latest information on What
.Brands Do With Their TLDs."

Above:
Four members of the Internet
Commerce Association,
Jackson Elsegood (Escrow.com), Braden
Pollock (Legal Brand Marketing),
Andee Hill (Donuts.co) and Jothan
Frakes (Merge!), took the floor
before the final morning session to
tell the audience about the ICA's
critical role in protecting
domain owner rights and to
encourage them to join the many
other industry leaders who have
banded together in the non-profit
organization for the good of all.

Below:
At 11:30am Verisign's Will
Shorter gave attendees his
unique
"Insight on .CC and .TV",
the giant registry operator's two
long
established re-purposed ccTLDs.

Above:
Jose Vicente Gomar (Amix
Network) who holds
one of the world's best
portfolios of new gTLDs was
on stage next to give a progress
report called "3 Years
Investing in New gTLDs With a 5-Year
Plan." In short, Jose is
pleased with the assets he has
assembled and remains confident they
will grow in value over time. The
slide you see in his presentation
was a photo we ran when he attended
his first domain conference (THE
Domain Conference in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida in 2014).

Below:
NamesCon Co-Founder Jothan
Frakes came over from the U.S.
to join Braden Pollock as
co-moderators for Domaining
Europe. Just before the 1pm
lunch break Jothan told attendees
about the new Merge!
conference that he and
new partner Ray Dillman Neu
will be staging in Orlando,
Florida October 14-18, 2017. Domains will be just one of
several related fields running on
parallel tracks (for the price of
one ticket) in an event that is
designed to bring together people
who are likely to find synergies
that create new relationships and
expand the enterprises of those who
attend.

Above:
After a lunch break attendees
returned to the conference hall for
a session on .Brands and a Future
New Round, covering what
corporations are likely to do when ICANN
opens a second round of new
gTLD applications. Panelists
(from left to right) were Martin
Sutton (Brand Registry Group), Martin Kuechenthal
(LEMARIT GmbH, Denic eG),
moderator Jothan Frakes, Katrin
Ohlmer (DOTZON) and Guillaume Pahud.

Below:
Multi-tasking attendees made every
minute at Domaining Europe
count.

Above:
In a popular 3pm panel discussion
the topic was how to Develop a
Domain and Sell a Business. The
panelists (left to right) were David
Seelos (HasTraffic.com), Michael
Gilmour (ParkLogic), moderator Braden
Pollock, Rob Monster (Epik.com)
and Alex Melen (T35 Hosting).

Below:
There were two daily coffee and
snack breaks at Domaining Europe
- one in the morning and one in the
afternoon. Attendees used the one at
4pm Tuesday to refuel for the
run down the show's final stretch.

Above:
At 4:30pm Mark Kychma
(MAKTIG) took
the stage with some great advice of Domain
Name Leasing, Valuation and
Structuring.

Above:
In the final business session of Domaining
Europe 2017, ParkLogic's Michael
Gilmour detailed New Way for
Registrars and Registries to Earn
Revenue.

Below:
While the educational portion of Domaining
Europe was over, the charitable
effort was not. Several
attendees donated domains that were
auctioned off by Undeveloped.com
Founder Reza Sardeha with the
proceeds going to the Hope
Children's Centre.
We encourage you to visit the Hope
link in the previous sentence to learn
m ore about the
organization that needs donations year
round to
provide educational opportunities
for
underprivileged children in Kenya
who would otherwise have none. Also,
keep in mind that Undeveloped's
regular Domaining Europe online
auction is continuing until May
25th with some marquee domains
available in that sale.

Above:
With the final day's work done, Domaining
Europe moderators Braden Pollock and
Jothan Frakes led a
well-deserved round of applause for
conference Founder Dietmar
Stefitz.

Below:
I said work was done - not pleasure!
There was still an evening social networking
celebration to mark the end of a
rewarding visit to Berlin. Mark
Ghoriafi (.CLUB) and Sanja
Lazovic (.ME) were among those
toasting Domaining Europe.

Below:
While chatting with Dietmar
near the end of the evening I
mentioned that Domaining Europe
had a tradition of gathering as many
attendees together as possible for a
"class photo" but in the
hustle and bustle surrounding this
year's bigger show it hadn't been
done. He decided to round up those
who were still on hand (about a
third of the week's total attendees) for
this shot I took from a nearby
stairway. If you click on the
picture a much larger version
will come up so you can more readily
identify the faces in the
crowd.

One
final note. We want to thank our
friend, show founder Dietmar Stefitz for being such a wonderful host (as he always is).
He produced another outstanding event that attracted people from all over the world for a gathering that
sent guests home with great memories and priceless new friendships. We appreciate
all of the work he has done over the past 9 years to make this a better industry
for everyone fortunate enough to be involved
in
it, not only in Europe but far
beyond it as well.

Photos
and Highlights from the 1st Business Day at
Domaining Europe in Berlin Monday (and the
Conference Party That Followed)

After
getting underway with an
afternoon of social networking on
land and water Sunday, attendees at
the 2017Domaining
Europe conference got
down to business today at the Steigenberger
HotelAm Kanzleramt in
Berlin, Germany.

The
day was packed with a dozen talks
and panel discussions before being
capped with the official show dinner
party at the Zollpackhof
Restaurant Monday evening.

Above:
Show moderators Braden Pollock
and Jothan Frakes (standing
at right) got the ball rolling by
introducing Nidoma.com's
Shaun Wilkinson (at podium) who
is also a patron of Domaining
Europe's selected charity this year
- the Hope
Children's Centre in Kenya.
Shaun screened a film that detailed
the Centre's great work in providing
schooling for local children that
previously had no educational
opportunities. Proceeds from the
conference's Undeveloped.com
auction tomorrow night
will go to the Children's Centre.

Above:
Verisign Data Scientist Andrew
Simpson delivered the show's
first keynote at 9am, providing a
treasure trove of useful data on the
kind of domains that new registrants
and aftermarket buyers most
frequently purchase.

Above:
Part of the audience on the first
business day at Domaining Europe
in Berlin today.

Below:
The morning session continued with a
talk from .Global Founder Rolf
Larsen on "What a Domain
Registry Can Do for Domain Investors." .Global has made a
concerted effort to provide tools
and information geared to attract
more investors.

Above:
In the conference's first panel
discussion I had the opportunity to
join five colleagues on the stage
for an
overview of the current state of the
domain industry. Left to right are
Michael Gilmour (ParkLogic), Ana
Paula Vazquez (Sedo), Ron
Jackson (DNJournal.com),
moderator Lars Steffen (ECO.de),
Jackson Elsegood (Escrow.com)
and Thomas Rickert (ECO.de).

Below:
In the next session, veteran domain
investor Antonio Villamarin
talked about his platform for
putting the "Buying and
Selling of Keyword Domains on
Autopilot".

Above:
After the 4pm coffee break, Ramon
Rautenstrauch (Divulga.Media)
provided advice on "How to
Make Money with Keyword Domains."

Below:
The day's final panel discussion
followed at 5pm with the eight
experts on the dais dissecting the
ins and out of Traffic, Parking and
Development. There were, left to
right, James Tuplin (Bodis.com),
Andreas Schmid (Product
Manager at Sedo),
Axel Kaltz (ParkingCrew.com), Reza Sardeha (Undeveloped.com),
moderator Braden Pollock, David
Warmuz, Dave Roberts and
Michael Gilmour.

Above:
At 6pm Escrow.com General Manager
Jackson Elsegood gave
attendees
a primer on domain leasing
and the tools Escrow.com offers to
make leasing easy.

Below:
Yancy Naughton (HasTraffic.com)
closed out the first day of business
with some advice on how to choose
your partners well for supply or
demand before developing or
monetizing a domain.

While
the business day was over the
night was just beginning thanks
to the official Domaining Europe
dinner party held at the
beautiful Zollpackhof Restaurant
and Biergarten, just a couple of
blocks away from the show hotel.

Above:
Domaining Europe Founder Dietmar
Stefitz (standing) with guests
at
tonight's dinner party at the Zollpackhof
Restaurant and Biergarten in
Berlin.

Below:
Guests could sit indoors or out and
spent most of the night going back and forth to
mingle with friends and new
acquaintances.

Below:
Ilze brought her lovely daughter
Natasha (at right) to Domaining
Europe. As the party finally
began winding down they searched out
Dietmar to thank him for an
unforgettable night in Berlin.

Domaining
Europe 2017 concludes with a second
full day of business Tuesday
(May 16) that will get underway at
9am. I will have all of the Tuesday
photos and highlights for you in my
next post from Berlin tomorrow
night.

The
2017 Domaining
Europe conference
got underway this afternoon in Berlin
with three hours of social
networking that flew by during
an enjoyable and enlightening
tour of Germany's vibrant capital
that utilized both luxury tour buses
and a spacious riverboat!

At
3pm two tour buses pulled up in
front of the conference venue, the Steigenberger
Hotel Am Kanzleramt, to whisk
attendees away on the first leg of
the excursion, a one hour narrated
sightseeing trip that provided a
close up look at some of Berlin's
most famous attractions.

Above:
I was delighted to see longtime
friend Sean Stafford (VP,
Bounce.io) take a seat next to us as
the tour bus pulled away from the
show hotel at the start of the
Sunday afternoon sight seeing tour
around Berlin.

Below:
Domaining Europe attendees
admire the spectacular monuments and
architecture in Berlin during
the first leg of Sunday's tour.

Above:
After an hour touring Berlin by bus
attendees boarded a river boat
for the next hour to see what the
lively German capital looks like
from a different vantage point.
After the Spree River tour,
they returned to the buses for a
final hour visiting additional sites
around the city. Standing at center
in the blue jacket is Domaining
Europe Founder Dietmar Stefitz.

Below:
After today's bus/boat tour those in
Berlin for Domaining
Europe had the evening free to
enjoy the city's many attractions. Verisign
and GoDaddy hosted one group
at a dinner held at the highly
regarded Paris-Moskau Restaurant
near the conference hotel.

The
first business day at Domaining
Europe will get underway at 8:45am
Monday (Berlin time). You can
see the full
agenda here. The show
will conclude with a second business
day (including a 6pm domain auction)
on Tuesday. In my next post from
Berlin I will have all of the Monday
photos and highlights for you in
this column.

Auf
Wiedersehen! We Are Off to Germany for Domaining
Europe - Watch This Page for Daily Photos and
Highlights from the Show

We
are en route
to Berlin, Germany for the 2017 Domaining
Europe conference that gets underway
Sunday afternoon (May 14) and continues
through Tuesday. You can get additional details
on the show from our most recent preview
article about the event.

Conference
founder Dietmar Stefitz has put together
an ambitious agenda
with a great line up of speakers
for the two business days Monday and Tuesday. A domain
auction and multiple opportunities
for social networking will also
attract

attendees
from around the world. I you will be in Berlin I
will look forward to seeing you there. If you
can't make it to the show, we will have the next
best thing for you - daily photos and
highlights in this column starting Sunday!

(Posted
May 12, 2017)

GGRG's
Latest Analysis of Short .Com Domain Sales
Boosted By New Data Provided by Escrow.com

Domain
brokerage and consultancy GGRG.comhas
released their latest freequarterly report (.PDF
file) breaking down aftermarket
sales of "liquid domain
names" (short .com
domains consisting of all letters
(L) or all numbers (N) that are
relatively easy to sell at
prevailing market prices). The new
report (.pdf file),
covering the first quarter of
2017, got a huge boost from the
inclusion of sales data from Escrow.com
for the first time - $16 million
worth that triples the size of
GGRG's data set when combined with
$8 million from ShortNames.com.

The
report noted, "For the third consecutive quarter,
China was the largest net gainer of liquid domains names by adding almost 7,000 domains, nearly1.2% of the entire liquid market. In contrast,
Europe and the U.S. stayed stable, with the rest of the world suffering the largest
reduction, losing 10,000
domains.
China keeps leading the numeric domain categories (2N, 3N, 4N and 5N), while
the US leads only in the 2L and 3L space with
over 50% of the domain registrations."

Those
numbers could change drastically
over the next few years though.
Graziano said that if the current
movement trend continues, China will
likely own over 50% of the entire liquid
market by 2020.

GGRG
Founder Giuseppe Graziano

With
respect to transaction volume and
prices GGRG reported, "the
total number of transactions across categories actually
decreased by 23.5%, from 5,455 to 4,173.
The floor prices stayed stable, but we did evidence a further single digit decrease in the value of 4L and 5N .com domains, namely the
most traded categories, losing on average 8% each."

Looking
ahead, the GGRG forecast said,
"The trend inversion in the development index might suggests that the price of liquid domain might be starting to become attractive
again for end users. It is interesting to note that we are not seeing large losses on the
floor prices. As predicted in our prior reports,
however, we are seeing a decrease in values for the more expensive "Chinese Premium" domains. Especially the
3L .com domains which lost almost
50% from their peak and are now trading at values closer to the "Western Premium" 3L domains."

There
is much more detailed
information breaking down
each category of liquid
domains that you can review
in the full
report. Better
yet, if you will be at next
week's Domaining
Europe
conference in Berlin,
you can get more insight
directly from Giuseppe. He
will be speaking on Monday
(May 15) in one of the featured
panel discussions starting
at 3pm local time. I will
also be in Berlin to cover
the show for you and will
have daily photos and
highlights in this column.

China's
Biggest Domain Conference Returns This Summer
With New Dates and a New Location

Some
1,000 domain investors,
officials and company
representatives from around the
world gathered in Hangzhou, China
in June of last
year for the 2016 Global
Domain Summit (GDS). Organizers
expect the 2017
event to be even bigger
with a new location - the Swiss
Grand Hotelin Xiamen,
a beautiful
waterfront city that is

known
for its high concentration of domain
companies and investors -
and new dates (a month later than
last year) with the show set to run
Friday through Sunday July
7-9.

A
view from the terrace of the Swiss
Grand Hotel in Xiamen where GDS
2017 will be held.

GDS
is backed by some of the
industry's heaviest hitters with Verisign, Godaddy,
AliCloud, Baidu
Cloud, eName and Bizcn
joining forces to co-organize
the event. GDS business
sessions will cover developing
trends for Global and
Chinese domain names, the
globalization of domain names
transactions, domain name
financing and security, brand
and trademark issues and new
gTLDs to name just a few of
the hot planned. GDS will also
again stage an awards ceremony
and a live domain
auction.

Above:
A view of the crowd from last
year's edition of GDS in
Hangzhou.

Below:
A scene from the 2016 live
domain auction at GDS (photos
courtesy of Bill Sweetman).

Guta.com
Founder George Hong

Well-known
international domain
broker George Hong
of Guta.com,
who maintains offices
in both the United
States and Xiamen,
told me "Xiamen
is considered by many
to be China's
"Capital City of
Domains." At one
point, nearly 80%
of domains owned by
Chinese people and/or
companies were
registered through
Xiamen based domain
registrars. Many big
buyers of premium
domains (especially
numeric domains) live
in Xiamen or
surrounding cities
that are within a
two-hour drive.”

Hong
added, "The city
is known as one of
China’s leading
tourist centers,
boasting mild climate
and picturesque
environs. It is a
terrific place for a
conference. In fact
the 9th BRICS
Summit
will be held in Xiamen
next September.“

Registrationis now open for GDS 2017
with four different ticket
levels available so you can
pick exactly how much access
you want to business sessions,
food, parties and accommodations. They start at
just $19 then

step up to $99, $299
and a high of $399. The latter
two tickets include a room
for two nights, so all
four levels are
obviously bargains compared to
what we expect to pay for
shows in the U.S.

The
U.S. and Europe will both be
well represented in Xiamen.
The 2016 show attracted
attendees from 15 different
countries.

Richard
Tindal, one of the four
co-founders of Donuts
Inc., the largest
operator of new top level domain
registries with close to 200
extensions in their portfolio, has
decided to retire. The news came in
a post
on the company blog from Donuts CEO Bruce
Jaffe today. Tindal has also
served as the company's COO since he
joined with Paul Stahura, Jon
Nevett and Dan Schindler
to launch the firm in 2010.

Tindal
has been a key management team
member at some of the industry's
leading companies over the past two
decades, having served at Verisign,
Melbourne IT, Neustar
and Demand Media before
becoming a key player in the massive
expansion of domain namespace
through the introduction of new
gTLDs via Donuts.

In his
post today, Jaffe wrote, "On behalf of everyone at Donuts, I want to publicly thank you, Richard, for all that you’ve accomplished – both here at the company and within this industry."

Jaffe noted,
"Richard and team pored through data, created a process that considered thousands of candidate TLDs, and finally

Richard
Tindal
Donuts Co-Founder and COO

whittled the list down to
307 applications - a bold and unprecedented effort. Though I wasn’t part of the industry back then, I can imagine it was a crazy and exciting time! I know for certain that Richard’s passion, focus, drive (and humor) were key to helping it all come together; Donuts’ success is in large measure the result of his work and foresight."

Jaffe
added, "On a personal level, I cannot thank Richard enough for having the courage to start Donuts with his co-founders, and for his patience in coaching and advising me and so many others. Richard’s industry knowledge, business acumen, and laid-back style will truly be missed by everyone. Richard, I speak for everyone at Donuts when I wish you all the best for your coming years. We vow at Donuts to continue your excellent work into the future."

New
MERGE! Conference in Orlando Continues to Take
Shape - 1st Major Keynoter Announced

I
have some more detailsfor
youon the innovative newMERGE!
conferencethat is coming to the Marriott
World Center in Orlando
next fall. As I first told you April
10thNamesCon
Co-Founder Jothan Frakes and THE
Domain Conference Co-Founder Ray
Neu have joined forces to launch
the new expo that will feature several
events in a single
location - a concept that will give
attendees shared access to multiple
networking and educational
opportunities in a variety of
related fields in addition to
domains.

MERGE!
will run form October 14-18 at
the world's largest Marriott Hotel,
located just a stone's throw from
Disney World.

Jen
Wolfe

The
first major keynote
speaker for MERGE! has
just been announced. That is
highly
regarded entrepreneur,
author, digital leader and
global IP strategist Jen
Wolfe. She has
written a series of highly
acclaimed books, Digital
in the Boardroom, Brand
Rewired and Domain
Names Rewired, that
have been endorsed by senior
executives from Microsoft,
Procter & Gamble,
General Electric, Warner
Brothers, Uber and many
others as cutting-edge
thinking about the future of
brands and the impact of the
changing internet landscape.
Ms. Wolfe, who is the CEO of
Dot
Brand 360, has
also written a regular
column in Click Z and
Search Engine Watch
on digital marketing and SEO.

Jen
has
served on ICANN's GNSO
Council

and
has a deep understanding of
global internet policy. She
graduated from Harvard
Law School’s Post
Graduate program in
negotiation and dispute resolution
and the Stanford Law School
Director’s College
Executive Education. She
holds a Juris Doctorate and
Master’s Degree in
Organizational Communication
and Behavior from the University
of Cincinnati.

MERGE!
Co-Founder Jothan
Frakes noted, "Jen
is a featured
speaker at the National
Association of
Corporate Directors
and is a big
interest and draw
with corporate CIO/CMO
directors. As more
is revealed about
MERGE! it will
become more evident
just how well all of
the various groups
will synergize."

As
it happens both
Frakes and Ms. Wolfe
will be
participating in
ICANN's Global
Domains Division
Industry Summit
that starts next
week in Madrid,
Spain where it
will run May 9-11.
With more than 400
participants from dozens
of countries around the
world countries
expected to attend,
Jothan will have an
opportunity to
introduce MERGE! to
leaders from gTLD,
brand and geo
registries, ICANN-accredited
registrars, gTLD
resellers, gTLD
hosting providers
and registry service
providers.

From
Madrid, Jothan will
hop over to Berlin,
Germany for the Domaining
Europe
conference May
14-16 (we will
be there as
well).

MERGE!
Co-Founder Jothan
Frakes

If
you will be in
Berlin he will be happy
to answer any questions
you have about
MERGE! Show registration
is open now
and MERGE!'s block
of rooms at the Marriott
World Center is
going fast, so if
you want to stay at
the conference venue
it would be wise to book
now.

As
soon as
Domaining
Europe ends,
the domain
conference
spotlight
will shift
to Mumbai
where NamesCon
will be
staged in India
for the
first time.
The one
day-show
will be held
May 19th
at the Grand
Hyatt
which will
also serve
as the venue
for the
latest World
Hosting Days
event - WHD.India
on May
18th.

In
another
India-related
note, the
4th annual DomainX
conference
that is
coming to New
DelhiAugust
5-6 has
landed Uniregistry
as its lead
sponsor. The
2016
show
was also
held in New
Delhi and
the strong
support it
received
there
prompted
organizers
to book a
return
engagement. As of
this writing
you can get
an early
bird ticket
to DomainX
2017 for
just $116.30
(including
the
ticketing
fee).

We need your help to keep giving domainers The
Lowdown, so please email editor@dnjournal.comwith any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).